almerimartoday

It is a very chilly Saturday morning today in Almerimar. The sun keeps coming out from behind a partly cloudy sky but it is cold, cold, cold.

Our outdoor thermometer is showing 9 degrees in the shade but my guess is that a few of these degrees are from retained heat in the wall of our terrace. When I called in to the clubhouse this morning to book tee times for next Friday it felt freezing when I got out of the car. There was a cold wind so with the wind chill factor it is pretty nippy in Almerimar.

At the club I saw Marianne and Marilena who were both going out to play. They had so many sets of clothes on the looked like Michelin men.

The French called them ‘love apples’ for their aphrodisiacal powers, and the Spanish use them in pretty much every dish.

So it is great news that scientists have found cooked tomatoes to contain a powerful cancer-fighting nutrient.

Read more on theolivepress.

Just received this from Chalky´s pro via Chalky. Given the drop in temperature predicted here this weekend  it may even apply in Spain....

There is often debate and controversy about whether your golf ball travels as far in colder temperatures (8°c and less). It doesn’t but before we go into the physics and chemistry of the golf ball; note that in colder temperatures, unless you are wearing a base layer and the latest outerwear and have warmed up properly, your swing speed will actually be slower. Therefore you are already down on distance.
 
In colder air the air is denser than it is in summer. That means more velocity is required to achieve the same distance. And as we likely have less velocity anyway that is a little more distance lost.
 
The temperature also affects the resilience of the golf ball. Warmer temperatures improve resilience meaning that the golf ball will come off the face faster (more bounce) whereas a cold golf ball will have less resilience and come off the face at a slower speed. That obviously further reduces distance.

So says the article here on the Typically Spanish site. The article mentions January 2005 as being the last really cold spell. This was our first winter here. It snowed in Almerimar for the first time in ages as you can see from the photo above.

You can see a few more pictures of snow in Almerimar here in the Gallery.

Thanks to Primera for the following information.

Each week over the winter Gula will be providing a set menu meal for 15 euros including 1 drink (glass of wine, beer or soft drink) each Thursday evening. The menu will change each week and will be inspired by food from different regions of Spain.

The menu will be available between 8pm and 9:30pm each Thursday.

As the menu is a special deal the standard FGS 5% discount does not apply to this offer. However it does apply to any other food or drink bought in Gula the same night.

Read More to see the menu for this week.

Happy birthday to Mimi. We hope you enjoy the day.

UPDATED 2 FEBRUARY 2012: This was a 2 person challenge with both Mr President and myself attempting to keep the weight off. I have just found out that he failed at his first weigh in. He was 13 stones and 1 pound. Lets hope for better next month.

On New Years Eve I set myself the target of being 13 stone (82.6kg) or less on the first of every month in 2012 from 1 February to 1 December.

Today was weight check day and I weighed in at 12 stone 12 pounds (81.6kg) so I have met my first target of the year.

Not the nicest of days here today so far. Pretty cloudy and very windy. We had an excellent January weatherwise. Perhaps we are going to pay for that in February.

We have received this information from Monica......

Three of Spain’s retail chains have made the list of the world’s 50 strongest this year.

The list is based on a study called Global Powers of Retail, which is carried out by the Stores magazine in collaboration with accounting firm Deloitte. Mercadona keeps its position as Spain’s greatest retail chain and it has increased its lead over El Corte Inglés. Both have descended on this year’s list and are at number 42 and 47 respectively. Mercadona, which has its origins in Valencia, turns over about 15.2 billion euros annually.